Those of you who follow our regular updates on the flavor ban policies being introduced across the State of California will likely have noticed things are getting rather busy. Instead of putting out a CTA specific to the following areas we've decided to combine them into a single post.

On September 18th at 6PM the city council of Redondo Beach California will be discussing tobacco control plans such as limiting use in public places, options for retail tobacco control policies, multi-unit housing restrictions and tobacco retail licenses. There is no mention of a possible flavor ban component. However, these types of meetings often lead to it.

Vape shops, e-liquid manufacturers and all tobacco retail license (TRL) holders in Sacramento should attend a meeting with city officials that will be held on September 18th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at the address listed below. The city will be presenting the proposed amendments to the licensing scheme, including the prohibition on the sales of flavored tobacco products, and are open to input from the affected businesses.

On the same day we were able to deal with the flavor ban in Oakley, but earlier in the morning, the Marin County flavor ban hearing got postponed until a later date. A date that hasn't been set yet. Watch this space because it won't be going away but it will likely incorporate several exemptions or grandfathering clauses for existing businesses to continue doing business as usual.

No flavor ban in Oakley. While I never allow myself to call anything a "win" since most wins are always of a temporary nature anyway, I think we can safely say that a flavor ban will not be part of the consideration in Oakley.

The City Council meeting in Albany CA has been moderately hopeful based on the concerns of several of the city council members who were not ready to move forward on a flavor ban policy. Mayor McQuaid and Council Member Nass wished to move forward and believe there is support in the city for a flavor ban ordinance but the rest of the city council wasn't so eager.

We would like to urge you to submit written comments to the city council at the contact details below to express your concerns about prohibiting the sale of flavored vapor products in the city and strongly recommend you attend the next meeting on September 10th at 9:00am.

Marin County, another municipality on the long list recently published by Not Blowing Smoke, has decided to move forward with the introduction of a flavor ban. Introduction of this ordinance is scheduled for September 11th at 9:30am in San Rafael.

Last night at the SF-DPH meeting a few things got confirmed. In no particular order: Sales of 0-nic products are allowed and the retailer can sell nicotine separately that can then be applied by the customer. Note, do not mix that in the store or do it for them. (Note: this is confirmed to be fine in SF, Beverly Hills, on the other hand, is a completely different story)

The city of Alameda, CA is considering an overhaul to their Tobacco Retail License (TRL) which includes a ban on the sales of flavored vapor products, according to the draft ordinance they have put together. There is time to act!

You thought anti-vapor campaigns in the USA were bad? You thought you had seen it all with the CA campaigns? And now there is this. Wow. Just... wow. If any of our Spanish speaking advocates and vapers are willing to lend a hand to respectfully educate some members of the Mexican government that would be wonderful.